Department of Public Works Superintendent Jim Reidy told the Selectboard recently he interviewed seven applicants for the position. “We really landed a good candidate,” he said.

Bates earned his degree in Urban Forestry from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in 1998.

“He knows trees in and out, but he can also pick up a chainsaw,” said Reidy, who has been serving as acting tree warden.

Bates was a plant health care coordinator in Norwalk, Conn., for two years and an integrated pest management technician for Bartlett Tree Experts in Simsbury, Conn., from 2003 to 2011.

He was also one of two supervisory technicians in the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) project to eradicate Asian longhorn beetles in Worcester in 2010.

In the late 1990s, he was an assistant grower for the former Grandview Farms in Chicopee.

Reidy told the board he was impressed by Bates’ wide range of experience. Bates can diagnose conditions in trees, he said, and can judge when something needs to be dealt with right away.

Bates will be working part-time. The technical term for his type of employment is “casual,” which means his hours will not always be regular, depending on what’s needed of him.

In August the Selectboard had discussed at length what it wanted in a tree warden. The subject of trees became a hot topic after the “Snowtober” storm last fall, which damaged many town trees.

Selectboard member Marilyn Ishler was especially firm about wanting a professional arborist, lest trees be cut down indiscriminately, without knowing whether they were rare, or valuable for other reasons.

Previously the town’s tree warden worked from home, was paid a small one-time fee per year and reported to the Selectboard.

Bates will be paid $20.35 an hour, will work from the Department of Public Works office, and will report to Reidy.

His new boss has no doubts about his choice. “We were shooting for the moon, looking for a super trooper,” said Reidy, “and we got one.”